Tray elevator



Filed Feb. 26, 1927 3 SheetsSheet Nov. 19,1929. P.C.WEGOI 9 1,736,472

TRAY ELEVATOR Filed Feb. 26, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 .lllimlutllujuju u ilu In I In I gwuento'c PeZer 6. WZgyo Nov. 19, 1929. c, WEGO 1,736,472

TRAY ELEVATOR Filed Feb. 26. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 gwoc'ntov Peier. Ws-90 QWLx W Patented Nov. 19, 1929 UNITED STATES PETER C. WEGO, OF ST.PAUL, MINNESOTA TRAY ELEVATOR Application'filed February 26*, 1927.

This invention relates to an elevator, particularly, although notexclusively, adapted for raising and lowering dish trays from one flooror level to another in restaurants and arranged to coact with means forautomatically removing trays from downwardly moving tray supports.

As far as I am aware, the elevators heretofore provided for such workhave been unnecessarily complicated and expensive and have had thefurther disadvantage of requiring an excessive amount of space forinstallation. Thus, as the space available for an elevator is often verylimited, the elevators heretofore provided have been unsuited forgeneral use.

It is my object to provide a novel and inexpensive elevator, which isarranged to occupy a minimum of space. A further object is to provide inan elevator of thiskind a novel arrangement of-tray carriers andcoacting guides whereby smoothand continuous travel of the tray supportsis insured and friction is reduced to a minimum.

This invention also includes certain other novel features ofconstruction, which will be more fully pointed out in the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side eleva-- tion of my improvedelevator; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the same, taken on theline 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing a suitable arrangement of drivingmechanism for operating the elevator; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of oneof the tray supports and carrier therefor; Fig. 4 is a side view of atray support and carrier; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 6 is ahorizontal section through an elevator having an alternate form of traysupport, adapted for use with simplified tray removing mechanism andFig. 7 is a front view of an elevator having an alternate arrangement ofguides and supporting sprockets for the chain.

As illustrated, my improved'elevator has a single, endless chain .8 towhich a series of spaced tray supports 9 are secured at suitableintervals. A guard plate 10 is provided on each tray sup ort to extendbetween the tray and chain. E hch tray support is rigidly se- Serial No.171,254.

cured to a trave ling carrier consisting of a vertical plate or framemember 11, two rearwardly extending frame members 12, each secured tothe chain 8 and a series of anti friction wheels 13, adapted to run uponthe guides hereinafter described. Each man. wardly extending ortransverse frame mem-- ber 12 is preferably constructed in the form ofhollow rectangle, the front side of which is connected to thelongitudinal member 11 and the rear side to the chain 8. Each lateralside of each member 12 carries a pair ofthe wheels 13, so that eachcarrier has eight wheels adapted to engage suitable guides. The members12 ofeach carrier are pivot ably secured to the member 11, one of saidmembers 12 being attached to the plate 11 by a bolt 14, which is free toslide in a slot 15 in said plate. It will be evident that this slot 15permits movement of one of themembers 12 toward and away from the other.

Extending parallel to the chain 8 is a pair of guides for the traysupports having inwardly extending flanges 16 upon which the wheels 13operate. Each guide has a rearwardly extending flange 18 which issecured by horizontal arms 17 to vertical frame mem-. bers 19 of theelevator. One of these frame members 19 is arranged backof each verticalI run of the chain and transverse members 20 connect the members 19. vIn the preferred construction, shown in Figures 1 and 2, the chain 8 issupported at the upper and lower ends of the elevatorrespectively uponlarge sprocket wheels 21 and 22. The upper sprocket wheel 2l is supported upon a shaft 23 having suitable bearings in the elevator frameand the lower sprocket wheel 22 is fixed upon a shaft 24:, adapted to bedriven through'a train of gears 25 by an electric motor 26 (see Fig.2).It will be noted that the guideflanges 16 extend in a vertical plane andhave arcuate'fportions which are concentric with the chain 8 where itpasses over the periphery of the sprocket wheels 21 and 22. These guideflanges are continuous orendless so that the wheels 13' are retained incontact therewith during the. entire travel of the tray carrier. Itwillalso be noted that the flanges 16 extend in the 10 structure. Thesemembers 42 in then downsame plane throughout their length, including thearcuate portions at the upper and lower ends of the elevator.

Each of the tray supports 9 in the preferred construction shown in Figs.1 and 2 is substan tially U-shaped in plan view, having a pair ofparallel arms 9* which support the tray and project toward the frontofthe elevator. To properly center the trays upon these arms 9, Iprovide side walls 27, between which the tray carriers pass in theirdownward movement. These walls 27 are supported upon the transverseframe members 20. 'loautomatically remove the trays from the carriers 9at the lower end of the elevator, a bed of rollers 28 is arranged toproject from a support 29 between the arms 9" and the tray can rier.Another roller 30 is also provided to convey the trays from the rollers28 to a suitable belt 31 passing over a drum 32. The bed of rollers 28and 30 may be arranged to slope away from the elevator to remove thetrays by gravity, but in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I haveillustrated suitable mechanism for positively rotating the rollers andthus'insure quick removal of the travs deposited on the rollers 28. Thisdriving mechanism consists of a series of bevel gears 33 severallymounted on axial shafts of the rollers 28 and coacting beveled gears 34fixed on a transverse shaft 35. A gear 36 on the shaft is drivenby agear similar to the gear 33 which is fast on the supporting shaft'of theroller 30, the latter roller'being driven at its opposite end throughsuitable gears 37 conn'ectedwith an electric motor-'38. The belt 81 mayalso be positively operated to convey the trays awayfrom the elevator.

In the arrangement of tray supports shown in 6, the arms 39 of each traysupport extend toward one lateral side of the elevator,

41 as seen 111 Flg. 6.

of the elevator, but where the longitudi 6c,

ited. shown in Fig. 7, the guide flanges 16"," adjacent to the chain 8where it pastes so as to'receive between them a simplified take oilconsisting ofa belt {tOi-uuui 9; upon a 'drum 41. Suitable transversemembers 1-2 connect each pair of arms 39 to form a rigid Ward travelpass the end of the belt 4E0 beyond the drum 41; The tray supports areranged to carry the trays with their centers of gravity to the left ofthe axis of the drum the form pf elevator shown in 7, a pairof'sproc'het wheels a3 are substituted for each of the wheels 22 and 21of the preterred construction. This form of elevator permits the use ofwidertraysupports and jsmaller sproclret'wheels and is employed wherespace of greater width availablel'lor install:

space atthe ends of the elevator is'm ore limover the sprocket wheels43, are formed in arcs which ar'e' concentric with the adjacent SprekgLyheels. take oif rollers 28,

re ame shown in Fig. 7, may be driven by extending the shaft 35 towardthe vertical center plane of the elevator and driving said shaft througha suitable gear 44- thereon. Otherwise, the elevator of Fig. 7 may bemade similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Operation In operation, the chain 8 may be continuously driven in thedirection indicated by arrows in Figs. land 7 to transport trays filledwith dishes or the like from an upper level or floor 45 to the belt 81or 40. A loaded tray may be placed on each of the supports 9 as soonasit arrives at its horizontal position between the upper ends of thewalls 27 The guard plates 10 prevent the contents of the trays fromprojecting towards the chain Where there would be danger of strikingparts of the elevator frame during the travel downward. Thus, each trayis lowered between the guides 27 until the arms 9? of the tray supportpass therollers 28 when the tray is deposited upon said rollers. As soonas a tray is deposited upon the upper peripheries of the rollers 28, itis conveyed thereby successively to the roller 30 and the belt 31 andcarried by the latter out of the way of succeeding trays. I

The operation of the arrangement shown in Fig.6 is similar to that abovedescribed except that the downwardly moving tray supports 89 deposit thetrays directly upon the belt 40, which conveys them away from theelevator. The chain 8 of the elevator shown in Fig. 7 may be driven bypower applied to one ofthe shafts supporting the sprockets 43. The traysupports 9 with their supporting carriers are thustraversed under theguidance of the flanges 16 To insure against breakage in a tray isallowed to remain on the rollers 28 or belt tO. an automatic stop forthe motor may be provided. A suitable stop for this purpose is describedand claimed in United States Patent No. l,l22,091 to W. T. Donaldson,dated July 11, 1922. Y a

It will be noted that the carrier guides ontend throughout their lengthin uniform spaced relation to the chain 8 so that there is no tendencyfor the tray carriers of light weight'to catch when passing between thecurved portions of the guides, as would be the case if the usual,eccentrically"disposed guides were employed. Further, the properhorizontal position of the tray supports is maintained while they arepassing along the straight portions of the guides because of my peculiararr'angementsof carriers. Thus, the tray supports are, rigidly securedtoithelcarriermembers 1 1,Ywhich are of ample length and always maintaintheir position substantially longitudinally of the chain 8, while thepivoted members 12 permit movement of the wheels 13 to conform to theguide flanges 16.

These features reduce friction to a minimum.

My invention has the further advantage of being adapted to raise aseries oftrays along one longitudinal run of the chain 8 and at the sametime to lower another series at the other side or run of the chain. Whenso used, the trays may be manually removed from the rising supports 9 byan attendant stationed upon the floor l5. To insure against breakage,which would result if a tray were allowed to remain on a carrier as itpassed into the curved guides at the top, any suitable or well knownswitch, operable by engagement with the trays, may be placed near theupper end of the vertical guides and connected in the motor circuit.Further, when the elevator is used for raising as well as loweringtrays, the guard plates 10 may be formed to extend at both sides of thesupports 9 instead of at one side as illustrated.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

1. In an elevator, the combination with sprocket wheels and an endlesschain operable upon said wheels in a vertical plane, of a stationaryguide having front and back surfaces extending in parallel relation tosaid chain and having arcuate portions adjacent to said wheels arrangedsubstantially concentrically therewith, a carrier secured. to saidchain, means on said carrier revoluble about axes parallel to saidsurfaces and continuouslv engaging the front and back sur faces of saidguide, driving means for said chain and a support for the material to beconveyed disposed on said carrier to project adjacent to the faces ofsaid wheels atone side only of the elevator during the operation of saidchain.

2. In an elevator having a frame and sprocket wheels at the upper andlower ends of said frame, a single endless chain operable upon saidwheels in a vertical plane, a stationary guide having front and backsurfaces extendingin parallel relation to said chain, carriers securedto said chain at spaced intervals, said carriers having means forcontinuously engaging the front and back surfaces of said guide, saidmeans being revoluble about ares parallel to said surfaces, drivmeansfor said chain and a support for the material to be conveyed disposed oneach carrier to project adjacent to the faces of said wheels at one sideonly of the elevator during the operation of said chain.

3. In an elevator, the combination. with sprocket wheels and an endlesschain operable upon said wheels in a vertical plane, of a stationaryguide having front and back surfaces extending in parallel relation tosaid chain and in a plane in front of the plane of said chain, saidguide having arcua'te portions adjacent to said wheels arrangedsubstantially concentrically therewith, car

secured to said chain at spaced intervals, said carriers having meansfor continuously engaging the front and back surfaces of said guide,said means being revoluble about axes parallel to said surfaces, drivingmeans for said chain and a support for the material to be conveyeddisposed on each carrier to project in front of the plane of said guideand at one side only of the elevator.

4. In an elevator, the combination with a pair of guides disposed in avertical plane, said guides each having two longitudinal, straightportions, a carrier mounted between said guides, said carrier having alongitudinal member, spaced, transverse members secured to saidlongitudinal member and a wheel arranged on each lateral side of each ofsaid transvese members, said wheels be ing disposed to run upon saidguides, power driven means for traversing said carr er upon said guidesand means projecting from said carrier to support the material to beconveyed.

5. In an elevator, the combination with a pair of guides disposed in avertical plane, said guides having vertically extending straightportions and arcua-te upper and lower portions, an endless chainoperable in a plane in the rear of said guides, a carrier mountedbetween said guides and secured to said chain, said carrier having alongitudinal member, spaced, transverse members 'secured to saidlongitudinal member and a pair of wheels arranged on each lateral sideof each of said transverse members, the wheels of each pair beingdisposed to receive one of said guides between them, power driven meansfor operating said chains to traverse said carrier upon said guides andmeans projecting from said carrier in front of said guides to supportthe material to be conveyed.

6. In an elevator, the combination with a pair of guides, a carriermounted between said guides, said carrier having a longitudinal member,spaced, transverse members pivotally secured to said longitudinal memberand a wheel arranged on each lateral side of each of said transversemembers, said wheels being disposed to run upon said guides and powerdriven means for traversing said carrier upon said guides.

7. In an elevator, the combination with a guide disposed in a verticalplane, a carrier mounted adjacent to said guide, said carrier having alongitudinal member spaced, trans verse members pivotally secured tosaid longitudinal member and pairs of wheels arranged on said transversemembers to run upon the front and rear faces of said guides, powerdriven means for traversing said carrier upon said guide and a traysupport rigidly secured to said longitudinal member and arranged toproject in front of said guide in planes perpendicular thereto.

8. In an elevator, the combination with a pair of endless guidesarranged in a vertical plane, said guides having vertically disposedstraight portions-and curved upper and lower portions, an endless chainoperable in a plane in the rear of said guides, a carrier mountetbetween said guides and secured to said chain, said carrier having alongitudinal member, spaced, transverse members pivoted upon saidlongitudinal member and a pair of Wheels arranged on each lateral sideof each of said transverse members, the Wheels of each pair beingdisposed to receive one of said guides between them, power driven meansfor operating said chain to traverse said carrier upon said guides and atray support rigidly supported on said carrier and projecting in frontof said guides, said tray support being arranged to extend horizontallyduring the movement of said carrier between the straight portions ofsaid guides, and being inverted during movement over the curved portionsof said guides.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to thisspecification.

PETER o. WEGO.

